How US job policy affects China's scientific and technological manufacturing firms? A perspective based on the competitive environment

This paper develops an index to measure the job policy uncertainty (JPU) of Chinese high-tech talents in the US, and investigates the impact of the U.S. JPU on the competitive environment of scientific and technological manufacturing firms (STMs) in China. The result shows that the U.S. JPU leads to a more intensified competitive environment for Chinese STMs. We further show the promotional effect of U.S. JPU is due to its role in promoting investment expenditure and capital agglomeration in STMs. We also find that this effect is more pronounced in samples that are more likely to attract talent inflows, such as areas with low levels of environmental pollution and STMs with high levels of high-tech talent demand. Our paper provides evidence that U.S. employment policies have significant spillover effects on the competitive environment of Chinese STMs.